Monday, January 6, 2014

What is Up with the Weather?!?!

My holiday break started with and ice storm and ended with a snow storm. I hate winter.

The Sunday before Christmas, we woke up to find a solid layer of ice covering all the trees and surfaces outside.

Did you know that 1/4" of ice on power lines is the equivalent of 500 lbs of weight? The lights went out Sunday around 10 am... and came back on Friday around 9 pm. We opened Christmas presents by daylight, and Santa brought the kids each new flashlights in their stockings. Our generator took care of keeping us warm and our food cold, but we were still limited in our activities. No cooking! No XBox for the kids (Merry Christmas?!)! No sewing!?!? It was a very long 5 1/2 days.

Then we regained electricity (and wifi!) and life got better. New Years Eve was fun, and I was able to complete nearly all the construction of my "Big Four Oh" dress. Heat. Cooking. XBox. Sewing. Life was good.

Bday Dress Progress: A "blah" sheath is becoming beautiful!

And then, the snow came. The forecast of 12" of snow and brutally cold temps for a few days had the grocery stores slammed, with 1 hour waits to check out. Insanity.

Yesterday morning around 7:30 am, the power went out. At this point, I was all, "No problem! I've done this already! I can start a generator! I can do this!" The kids played in the snow, I shoveled the walk, the dog ate snowballs, hubby plowed the driveway. We headed out for lunch (with about 6" having fallen at this point).

There are actually 2 lanes northbound, and 2 lanes s.b.

After 2 more shovel/plow sessions, the dark came out... and so did the generator. Finally, about 8 pm, the lights came back on, and school had been cancelled for today. Yay for power! Yay for a snow day!

This morning, I woke to this view of my deck.

Now, the "dangerous cold" is setting in, so we're camping out for the day. I'll add the lace and leather to my dress, and do some additional alteration work on a wedding dress for a client. Some area schools have already cancelled Tuesday classes because of the wind chill. Our current weather advisory says:

HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
* WIND CHILLS WILL DROP TO BETWEEN 20 AND 30 BELOW ZERO TODAY AND
THEN BOTTOM OUT NEAR 35 BELOW ZERO TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY
MORNING.
* WESTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS
BY MIDDAY... LEADING TO EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW INTO
THIS EVENING.

I know that this storm is hitting all over the country with even more snow and even lower temps, so I hope that all of you are staying warm inside WITH POWER this week!

Are you a fan of winter? I'm a summer girl, through and through. Coppertone is a favorite smell and when I need to find a "happy place", I envision Kona, Hawaii. This winter... BRUTAL.

15 comments:

Oh, you poor thing! At least your post made me feel better about my winter blues here in Atlanta...we're 28 today so no tennis (well, it's all relative, isn't it?) But your dress is going to be spectacular and it sounds as if your family certainly knows how to survive and thrive during a brutal storm.And summer IS coming...

I like having four seasons and winter even isn't my least favorite; fall is. That said, I would much rather prefer not to drive or walk in this madness.

I watched an idiot try to beat red light in a left-hand turn lane. He made the light but missed the turn. He slid across the street and nearly hit a telephone pole. He looked over at me and I just shook my head.

Your deck looks like my deck. My poor dog had the hardest time navigating through the snow. It was funny, though.

I have to commiserate with you - fellow Michigander here and we are so ready for winter to be over, only it's just begun! Feels like -48 out there today. Any southern state is sounding really nice right now, even though the cold is hitting the whole country. I don't comment often, but do enjoy your posts and sewing!

I'm a winter-lover especially since I moved out of Minnesota, lol. In Ohio I know it's only temporary. I think it's 2 or 3 degrees now but the weekend is supposed to be in the high 30's :) I can handle the snow, the cold, the crazy drivers, everything except losing power! Thank goodness you had a generator.

Right now I'm waiting patiently for my school district to cancel tomorrow's classes too as most of the other cities (the ones that didn't cancel Mon. and Tues. classes Sunday night) are cancelling.

That black lace is just beautiful on the dress. Hope you can get in some quality sewing time in today.

No power for Christmas? No fun! Glad that you are back in the light and heat. School was canceled here for tomorrow and I am hoping to get in some time sewing and blogging. Keep your fingers crossed that we have power!

Brrrrr. I can't imagine cold like that. I start whinging when it gets to 10 degrees C!! I'm thankful I live in Australia where it's 'supposed ' to be summer. It's been yucky weather the last few days and i'm rather wishing i could turn the heater on. I' wont, only because i'll never hear the end of it from my husband!! He lloves the cold weather and days. It doesn't really get cold enough to snow where I live..i think it's snowed ( and not much and it didn't last) about 3 times here in the past 40 years! I spent the day at the snow once - and it was the most miserable day of my life - people go to the snow for fun????

Your birthday dress is looking so lovely and i'm looking forward to seeing it finished. Hopefully, you won't lose power again. I love the black lace against the cream dress - very elegant

You have had a very challenging Christmas break, Teacher! Do I like winter? I think it sucks. I drove back from Boston to the Canadian/ ny line yesterday, not fun but thankfully made it OK. Hope the kids have enjoyed all their presents at this point. Yeah, winter sucks.

Having grown up in southern California and now living in the San Francisco area, I don't really have a lot of experience with "true winter", so to me, your snow photos are beautiful. Hate to say it, but I was wearing shorts and sandals on New Year's Day! I'm sorry about the power loss, but at least you were able to get some sewing done on your so-far-gorgeous dress. Love the lace. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Just catching up on my blog reading. I'm sorry to hear about your power outage!!! We went through the same thing 2 years ago. The Halloween Snowstorm knocked out power on our street for 5 days. Thanks to that, my Christmas present that year was a 20kW whole-house generator. Of course, we barely have lost power since then, but it's good to know it's there. As I said to my husband, "I'm old, I'm ornery, and I've survived cancer (touch wood). But as God is my witness, I'll never be without internet again!" :)